In the traditional TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) model, the client requesting some content needs to first map the URL (Uniform Resource Locator) in the name of the content to a server. This server will mostly stay the same for the length of the session. The session is actually bound to this server, and the session's goal is to transfer the specific content held from this server. In such host-centric networking paradigm, the core networking primitives revolve around naming hosts and network interfaces. Network devices can only forward packets according to the destination addresses.
Recently, information-centric networks (ICN) have been proposed. Examples of ICNs include, but are not limited to, Named Data Networking (NDN), Content Centric Networking (CCN), Content Oriented Networking (CON), Data Oriented Networking (DON), and Content Based Networking (CBN). Unlike traditional host-centric networking, information is directly named in ICNs. Thus, ICNs allow a client device to focus on the data needed, as opposed to referencing a specific location from which the data may be retrieved.
For example, in CCN, a client node may send an interest packet to the network when the client wants to access a piece of a content object. The network then forwards the interest packet using the name of the interest for routing. Once the interest packet reaches a cache holding a match for the interest, a content return packet may be sent back. The content return packet may retrace the path followed by the interest packet in the reverse direction to the client node which requested the content. Each content return packet may be a chunk of the content object.